Monthly Archives: May 2012

Making a new Domain Controller actually wasn’t a difficult task. It was a quick “Click, click click,type type type, click click, backspace click, enter,enter” in the GUI

Get what I’m saying?

Promoting roles was actually easy as was adding features. REPEATEDLY doing those tasks was about as fun as chewing tinfoil while gargling gasoline and singing “Yankee Doodle Dandy” or ANY fun tune.

Until the clouds parted, Jeffrey Snover and the Powershell team’s voice boomed out “Powershell” and Windows Server 2012 began to appear.

You see something wonderful has begun to form in the Development of this new system. Sample scripts in the Server environment!

Running through the Wizard of adding the Active Directory Domain Services is slightly different. The Server Manager completely different than before but oh so much more powerful. I select a Server or VHD and add the required Active Directory Domain Services role to it.

Then of course begin the promotion to a Domain Controller. But once you play and began adding it as a Domain Controller the magic starts to flow free

Because at the end of it all – **** DING **** DING **** DING ****

A POWERSHELL Script!

Choosing “View Script” will produce the EXACT Powershell script being used to turn that computer in a Domain Controller.

Now the best part, think about it. If you like the GUI and are happy with it. Stay with it and be as productive as you love. But the best part of the Sample script is when the boss in the organization screams. “I need a new DC STAT!” you can take this script and just RUN it on the box.

Making a new Domain Controller actually wasn’t a difficult task. It was a quick “Click, click click,type type type, click click, backspace click, enter,enter” in the GUI

Get what I’m saying?

Promoting roles was actually easy as was adding features. REPEATEDLY doing those tasks was about as fun as chewing tinfoil while gargling gasoline and singing “Yankee Doodle Dandy” or ANY fun tune.

Until the clouds parted, Jeffrey Snover and the Powershell team’s voice boomed out “Powershell” and Windows Server 2012 began to appear.

You see something wonderful has begun to form in the Development of this new system. Sample scripts in the Server environment!

Running through the Wizard of adding the Active Directory Domain Services is slightly different. The Server Manager completely different than before but oh so much more powerful. I select a Server or VHD and add the required Active Directory Domain Services role to it.

Then of course begin the promotion to a Domain Controller. But once you play and began adding it as a Domain Controller the magic starts to flow free

Because at the end of it all – **** DING **** DING **** DING ****

A POWERSHELL Script!

Choosing “View Script” will produce the EXACT Powershell script being used to turn that computer in a Domain Controller.

Now the best part, think about it. If you like the GUI and are happy with it. Stay with it and be as productive as you love. But the best part of the Sample script is when the boss in the organization screams. “I need a new DC STAT!” you can take this script and just RUN it on the box.

I have one phrase to utter to Microsoft. I know this is Beta but PLEASE oh PLEEEEEEAAAAASSSSEEEEE DON’T (DON’T DON’T DON’T!!!!) remove this feature I found.

In Server 2008R2 Microsoft introduced possibly the easiest way for a Help Desk or an Administrator to manage the common day to day functions in Active Directory. It’s called the Active Directory Administrative Center. You’ll have seen it and heard it was built in Powershell.

In Windows Server 2012 the Powers that be kicked this tool into OVERDRIVE.

They attached a little piece that I initially overlooked in the Active Directory Administrative Center. A small but incredibly Powerful change for the new Administrator.

They let us see the history of Powershell cmdlets PRODUCED by the Administrative Center.

Let me state just how unbelievably over the top, Jump up and down, Flip for Joy, Scream to the SKIES amazing this is. This is the BEST feature they could have introduced.

Let’s take a quick look!

So here is the current version of the “Active Directory Administrative Center”. Functionally it is identical to the previous version. I can create a user with the rich interface as I had last time.

With this interface all of the details an Administrator needs are placed directly in front of them in an “At a Glance Scenario” making viewing and editing the user easier

So we click “OK” and create a user and all seems normal… Or does it?

Look right near the bottom of the GUI interface and see if you spot what I almost overlooked. “Windows Powershell History”. The BIGGEST and BEST CHANGE offered to an Administrator.

Simply click on “Windows Powershell History” to see the EXACT Cmdlets that were used to produce you action in the GUI! No more muss and fuss!

You can copy the contents by right clicking and selecting Copy to copy a single line and paste it elsewhere.

You can even do a CTRL-A and CTRL-C to copy the content used directly into a NOTEPAD.EXE instance or better yet, paste it straight to the Powershell ISE for editing and debugging!

You can even (if you choose) have it clear off the history each time so you can see the Cmdlets being used to generate other functions of Active Directory. How about just adding a user to a group or unlocking a user?

The guesswork of using the Active Directory modules is now gone! Just clear the history, execute the action in the “Active Directory Administrative Center”, check the Windows Powershell History and grab a copy of what you just did.

Now this is where Windows Server 2012 really just…well it just KICKS ASS! I can use the GUI the way I will be comfortable, but if I need to learn to automate it, the very commands being used are place right square in FRONT OF ME!

The Future is looking pretty DAMN GREAT with Windows Server 2012 and Powershell.